Collaborative concept mapping engages two or more students in coordinated and sustained efforts in the creation of one or more concept maps in order to learn and construct knowledge. It is a potentially powerful instructional strategy in that it fosters meaningful learning and group knowledge construction and helps the building of common ground…

Learning to spell on the computer may lead to functionally useful writing skills. Alan and Suzy, teenagers with developmental disabilities, were already proficient on a variety of naming and matching tasks but had difficulties spelling; Suzy also made errors reading orally. In Experiment 1, computer teaching led to new anagram and written spelling…

In fall 2003, students from two U.S. universities and a Canadian university participated in an ethics project. One solution to overcome the obstacles to ethics discussions among students who are geographically separated is the use of email as a mode of communication. As a basis for their discussions, the students used the accounting ethics…

This article helps designers of Web-based science instruction construct analogies that are as effective as those used in classrooms by exemplary science teachers. First, the authors explain what analogies are, how analogies foster learning, and what form analogies should take. Second, they discuss science teachers' use of analogies. Third, they…

Computer-assisted instruction systems have been broadly applied to help students solve math word problem. The majority of such systems, which are based on an instructor-initiating instruction strategy, provide pre-designed problems for the learners. When learners are asked to solve a word problem, the system will instruct the learners what to do.…

An online homework system created for use by beginning calculus students is described. This system was designed with the specific goal of supporting student engagement outside of class by replicating the attempt-feedback-reattempt sequence of events which often occurs in a teacher's presence. Evidence is presented which indicates that this goal…

"Fast ForWord"[R] is a family of computer-based products. According to the developer's web site, the programs help students develop and strengthen the cognitive skills necessary for successful reading and learning. Participants spend 30 to 100 minutes a day, five days a week, for four to 16 weeks with these adaptive exercises. "Fast…

Scholastic's "System 44" is a foundational reading program intended for older struggling readers who have not mastered basic phonics and decoding skills. Combining researched-based phonics instruction with adaptive technology, "System 44" is designed to improve students' word reading accuracy, fluency, and comprehension. The…

This study explored the impact of "Technology Enabled Active Learning" (TEAL) on students learning general physics, focusing on differences between genders and among various achievement levels. A quasi-experimental investigation was conducted on two semesters of courses offered in 2008. Data sources consisted of pre-tests, post-tests,…

Why are many teachers around the world moving toward task-based learning (TBL)? This shift is based on the strong belief that TBL facilitates second language acquisition and makes second language learning and teaching more principled and effective. Based on insights gained from using tasks as research tools, this volume shows how teachers can use…

This dissertation presents an innovative approach to the development and empirical evaluation of Automated Writing Evaluation (AWE) technology used for teaching and learning. It introduces IADE (Intelligent Academic Discourse Evaluator), a new web-based AWE program that analyzes research article Introduction sections and generates immediate,…

In the present study we call attention to the close connection between languages and globalization, and we also emphasize the importance of the Internet and online websites in foreign language teaching and learning as unavoidable elements of computer assisted language learning (CALL). We prepared a checklist by which we investigated 28 foreign…

This paper reports on the students' experiments of using blogs to encourage themselves to do pre-class reading assignment and reflections after class. The sample in the study included five ESL (English as a Second Language) graduate students in a course of teaching methods, and 90 software engineering students in an undergraduate information…

Research findings in recent years provide compelling evidence of the importance of encouraging student control over the learning process as a whole. The socially based tools and technologies of the Web 2.0 movement are capable of supporting informal conversation, reflexive dialogue and collaborative content generation, enabling access to a wide…

Knowledge Building is approached in this study from an organizational perspective, with a focus on the nature of school-university-government partnerships to support research-based educational innovation. The paper starts with an overview of what is known about effective partnerships and elaborates a conceptual framework for Knowledge Building…